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Gdański Czerwiec ’76 w świetle dokumentów partii i bezpieki

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Brzeziński P.

Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość

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2012

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issue 1(19)

199-220

EN

The catalyst of the June rebellion of 1976 was the dramatic rise of food prices, announced by the Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz. The protest in Gdańsk differed substantially from the well-known protests in Radom, Ursus and Płock. Local workers remembered the massacre of December 1970 only too well. Fearful of provocation by the Security Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB) they chose to refrain from marching to city, beginning a sit-down strike instead; it was joined by 10,000 employees of the Lenin Shipyard, as well as a part of the personnel of ZREMB, BUDIMOR, and the Repair Plant of the Voivodeship Union of Dairy Co-operatives in Pruszcz Gdański. The Gdańsk strike was among the lar gest countrywide. Then why has the Gdańsk strike been forgotten? It’s no exaggeration to assert that in the Tri-City (Gdańsk/Sopot/Gdynia) the 1970s was a decade marked by the deep shadow of the December massacre. Very possibly the 1970 and 1980 events have erased the much less pronounced memory of the June protest. Neither did that June fi t the heroic mythology of “Polish months” of 1970 and 1980, when workers’ demands exceeded the anecdotic “sausage”. Whereas in 1976, stri king employees did not even formulate their own demands. They only protested against the rise of prices. The strike was too brief to reach beyond strictly economic issues. Therefore, there was nothing particular to be proud of years later. Neither did any spectacular government replacings occur in the aftermath of June. The disgraced Jaroszewicz remained in position of primer minister. Why? Maybe inside the Party there was no organised faction that could use the social unrest to carry out another reshuffl e among the Party’s bigwigs. Paradoxically, the image of the Coast “silent” in 1976, was permanently recorded by Andrzej Wajda’s fi lm The Man of Iron, which was inconvenient for Communist authorities. It was screened in the summer of 1981. In one of the scenes, Ms Hulewiczowa recalls that Maciej Tomczyk – the main protagonist – on becoming aware that “there have been workers’ protests in Radom and Ursus”, decided to organise a solidarity strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard: “And then something arose him. He wanted to make some protest at the shipyard, but people had too fresh memories of their own December, so they stayed idle”. That scene is very moving, but completely untrue.

2

PZPR w Pruszczu Gdańskim na zakrętach historii PRL (1956, 1970, 1980–1981)

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Brzeziński P.

Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość

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2018

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issue 32

319-345

PL

Artykuł opisuje sytuację panującą wewnątrz powiatowej i miejskiej struktury PZPR w Pruszczu Gdańskim w trzech przełomowych momentach historii PRL: Październiku ’56, Grudniu ’70 i Sierpniu ’80. Stanowi też próbę znalezienia cech wspólnych dla reakcji lokalnych władz partyjnych na kolejne wybuchy społecznego niezadowolenia i w mikroskali ukazuje przebieg tzw. polskich miesięcy w niewielkim mieście powiatowym, funkcjonującym w cieniu trójmiejskiej aglomeracji. Z racji bliskości Trójmiasta mieszkańcy Pruszcza Gdańskiego byli często świadkami rozgrywającej się tu wielkiej historii. Wielu z nich pracowało w trójmiejskich zakładach lub uczyło się w tamtejszych szkołach i uczelniach. Tym samym toczące się w Trójmieście dramatyczne wydarzenia historyczne bezpośrednio rzutowały na ich życie. Artykuł oparty jest na fragmentach wydanej w końcu 2016 r. książki Pruszcz Gdański w latach 1945–1990. Partia, bezpieka, „Solidarność”, której autorami są Piotr Brzeziński, Arkadiusz Kazański i Marcin Węgliński.

EN

The article describes the situation within the county and urban structures of the Party in Pruszcz Gdański at the three turning points of the history of the Polish People’s Republic: October ’56, December ’70, and August ’80. It is also an attempt at finding common traits within the local Party authorities’ responses to the subsequent outbreaks of social dissent and on a small scale, the course of the so-called Polish Months in a small provincial town living in the shadow of the Tri-City Agglomeration. Due to the proximity of the Tri-City, the residents of Pruszcz Gdański often witnessed the grand history that happened there. Many of them worked in factories or attended schools or universities that were located in Gdańsk, Gdynia, or Sopot. Thus, the dramatic historical events that took place in the Tri-City directly affected their lives. The article is based on fragments of Pruszcz Gdański w latach 1945–1990. Partia, bezpieka, „Solidarność” by Piotr Brzeziński, Arkadiusz Kazański, Marcin Węgliński, which was published in late 2016.

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Agonia „przewodniej siły”. Kryzys PZPR w latach osiemdziesiątych na przykładzie Gdańska i Gdyni

100%

Brzeziński P.

Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość

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2011

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issue 2(18)

103-127

EN

The expiration of the “leading force”: The 1980s PUWP crisis in Gdańsk and Gdynia The article presents the situation within the Gdańsk party organization towards the end of the communist era based on previously unpublished documents preserved at the State Archives in Gdańsk and their Gdynia section, PUWP Central Committee materials held by the Archives of New Records, as well as secondary literature. This is a case study of the functioning of a local link of the PUWP. The author’s objective was to show selected aspects of the gradual disintegration since the 1980s of the communist party which had held almost absolute power in Poland for four decades. Most of the symptoms of the crisis enumerated in the article subsequently became visible on a national scale, greatly contributing to the fall of the regime in 1989. The establishment of Solidarity in August 1980 shook the foundations of the PUWP, As the first trade union in the soviet bloc to assert independence form national authorities, Solidarity proved a better representative of the workers. Within a short time, almost 10 million Poles had joined Solidarity, including 1 million PUWP members. As a result, the communists were forced into a defensive position. Once again the party leaders decided to use force in defense of their authority. In retrospect, the introduction of martial law by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski should be considered the beginning of the end of the PUWP which proved incapable of playing its “leadership role” guaranteed by the constitution. The operation was successful but the patient did not survive—these ironic words aptly describe the situation within the party after December 13, 1981. Bringing out the army into the streets failed to prevent the decomposition of the PUWP.The communists’ electoral defeat of June 4, 1989 served as a strong impulse for accelerating the process of “folding up” the party, “enfranchising the nomenclature,” and transforming the PUWP into a modern organization professing a social-democratic doctrine.

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Gdański Czerwiec ’76 w świetle dokumentów partii i bezpieki

PZPR w Pruszczu Gdańskim na zakrętach historii PRL (1956, 1970, 1980–1981)

Agonia „przewodniej siły”. Kryzys PZPR w latach osiemdziesiątych na przykładzie Gdańska i Gdyni